Comparing the effects of vestibular rehabilitation with and without lavender oil scents as an olfactory stimulus on balance, fear of falling down and activities of daily living of people with multiple sclerosis: a randomized clinical trial

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the effect of using lavender oil as an olfactory stimulus with vestibular rehabilitation (VR) on balance, fear of falling down, and activities of daily living of people with multiple sclerosis.

Methods

Forty participants were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The experimental group did the VR exercises while smelling the lavender oil scents. The control group did the VR exercises without it. Both groups did the exercises in ten 45-min sessions. We assessed the participants with the timed up and go (TUG) test, Berg balance scale (BBS), fall efficacy scale – international (FES-I), and the 29-item multiple sclerosis impact scale (MSIS-29). We did the tests at the baseline and after the last exercise session.

Results

The experimental group performed significantly better in the BBS (p = 0.007), TUG (p = 0.045), and FES-I (p = 0.016) tests as well as in the MSIS-29’s psychological subscale (p = 0.034) than did the control group.

Conclusions

Using lavender oil as olfactory stimulus while doing the VR exercises can improve balance and reduce fear of falling down compared to doing the VR exercises without it in people with multiple sclerosis.

Implications for rehabilitation

• It seems that using lavender oil, as an olfactory stimulus, while doing vestibular rehabilitation exercises can improve balance and reduce fear of falling down in people with multiple sclerosis compared to doing the vestibular rehabilitation exercises without it.

• This treatment significantly alleviates the psychological effects of multiple sclerosis on daily life such as sleeping problems, feeling unwell, anxious, tense, depressed, etc.

Keywords:

• Balance
• fall
• lavender
• multiple sclerosis
• olfactory stimulation
• vestibular rehabilitation

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the officials and staff of the MS Society of Tehran who helped us including: Ali Radmehr, head of the Physiotherapy Department of the MS Society; and Marjan Rajabi for their outstanding guidance and kind cooperation. We also thank Ali Sonboli of the Department of Biology, Medicinal Plants, and Drugs Research Institute. Lastly we thank Muhammed Hussein Mousavinasab for editing this text. No financial support was provided to the researchers for the investigation, authorship, and/or publication of the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).